Published by ChinaMNC · shaanxi

China Eases AI Adoption While Safeguarding Jobs: A Founder's Guide

A State Council office opinion sets out how China will encourage AI-driven business growth while managing job displacement risks and worker protections.

What the Policy Is

The General Office of the State Council has issued an opinion on adapting to artificial intelligence development while building an employment-friendly development model. The document, released with State Council consent, treats employment as the most basic livelihood issue and aims to reconcile technological progress and industrial upgrading with job promotion and livelihood improvement. For foreign founders building or registering companies in China, the opinion signals both new opportunities in AI-related sectors and new compliance expectations around workforce impacts.

Opportunities in Emerging AI Fields

The opinion calls for deeper implementation of the "AI+" initiative. Eastern regions are encouraged to host core AI industries, while central and western regions are guided to take on upstream and downstream activities such as data annotation and intelligent terminal manufacturing, forming new employment growth points. The policy also supports cultivating AI-native enterprises and specialized, refined, distinctive and innovative "little giant" enterprises. Eligible companies may be included in special loan programs that support financial assistance to enterprises for stabilizing and expanding employment, creating more new positions and opportunities.

Support for Small and Medium Enterprises

An AI entrepreneurship support plan for small and medium-sized enterprises is to be implemented, with open-source ecosystems used to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among SMEs. Public services for digital transformation are to be strengthened, and development of lightweight, quick-to-deploy, precise digital products and solutions is encouraged. The opinion emphasizes that SMEs and individual businesses should be able to use intelligent production factors such as data and algorithms on an equal footing under the law. It also supports low-cost, lightweight intelligent upgrading paths to lower the threshold for AI adoption and improve the capacity of smaller firms to absorb employment.

New Business Models and Professions

Government investment funds, including the national venture capital guidance fund and the national AI industry investment fund, are to play a role in supporting innovative AI enterprises in a market-based manner. The policy calls for high-level open-source AI communities and a batch of quality open-source projects to generate entrepreneurship-driven employment. It promotes models combining scientific and technological achievements with entrepreneurship, industrial development with entrepreneurship, vocational skills with entrepreneurship, and livelihood needs with entrepreneurship. Startup support policies and incubation services are to be provided for projects involving AI application scenarios and technology transfer.

New occupations are also to be developed faster. Around AI scenario cultivation and large-scale application, new occupations and standards are to be issued, expanding demand for roles such as digital managers, AI engineering technicians and AI trainers. Localities are encouraged to add relevant professional titles for evaluation and to carry out AI-related vocational skill level certification.

Transforming Traditional Sectors

AI is to be used to help upgrade traditional industries. The opinion encourages human-machine collaboration in the intelligent development of industrial factors and the digital transformation of agriculture, tapping digital employment opportunities in traditional fields. It also calls for AI-driven new service models, pushing producer services toward specialization and higher value-chain positions, and promoting higher-quality, diversified and convenient consumer services, including experiential and personalized consumption scenarios, to expand service-sector employment capacity.

Managing Workforce Impact and Protections

The policy takes a cautious approach to AI deployment in labor-intensive industries, asking that the scope, intensity and pace of application be handled steadily and prudently to minimize shocks to workers. Employers are encouraged to explore unemployment buffer-period arrangements, giving affected workers advance notice and offering transition and reassignment support during large-scale AI rollouts. AI should be prioritized in positions facing labor shortages or high environmental risk.

Employment Risk Assessment

A mechanism for assessing the employment impact of AI applications is to be established. For AI application projects in market access fields that could cause significant employment shocks, employment risk assessments are to be conducted alongside project review, with relevant departments coordinating transition and reassignment support. Other AI application projects should carry out assessments according to actual circumstances.

Talent Development and Training

Universities and vocational schools, including technical colleges, are encouraged to dynamically adjust disciplines and majors, make extraordinary arrangements for AI-related fields in urgent demand, strengthen interdisciplinary programs, add AI "micro-majors" and implement composite talent training projects. School-enterprise joint training is emphasized, with leading technology enterprises supported to participate in curriculum development, teacher training and teaching facility upgrades. AI education is to be advanced at all stages, with students gaining practical experience in enterprises and enterprise engineers teaching in schools.

A special AI training plan is to be implemented under the "Skills Illuminate the Future" training action. Localities running project-based and order-based digital skills training should align with AI market demand and encourage college graduates, young people, migrant workers and unemployed persons to join AI employment and entrepreneurship training. Public training bases, enterprise training bases and high-skilled talent training bases are to be used for AI skills training. Public-interest courses are to be offered through national smart education and online learning platforms, and AI skills competitions are encouraged within existing vocational skills contests.

Smart Services and Worker Rights

The opinion calls for using AI to improve policy delivery, including intelligent identification of service recipients, targeted policy推送 and better "policy finds people" results. It also aims to upgrade the national employment information resource database, the national college student employment service platform and the "China Employment" public service platform, with stronger data aggregation, intelligent analysis and precise services. AI application pilot bases are to be built, grassroots public employment service networks upgraded, and AI applied in labor dispute mediation and arbitration. Human resources services should be empowered by AI, with encouragement for new products such as recruitment models, intelligent interviews and virtual reality training.

Workers affected by AI-related job replacement are to receive targeted career guidance, skills training, job referrals and entrepreneurship support, and eligible insured unemployed persons are to receive unemployment insurance benefits promptly and in full. The policy calls for research on protecting workers' basic rights in human-machine collaboration, improved consultation and coordination mechanisms, and enforcement of rights to remuneration, rest and leave, and occupational safety and health. AI use in human resource management is to be regulated, with illegal acts such as employment discrimination, false recruitment and privacy or rest-right violations caused by algorithm abuse addressed according to law.

Social security is to become more flexible and inclusive, with support for flexible workers and new employment forms to join urban employee basic pension insurance and an expansion of occupational injury protection pilots. The opinion also calls for income distribution mechanisms suited to AI, pay systems reflecting the characteristics of AI practitioners, and incentives oriented toward knowledge value. It encourages enterprises to invest more in public-interest AI technology, services and open-source communities.

Monitoring and Research

Cross-departmental sharing of AI industry and employment data is to be strengthened, with regional and industry-specific intelligent monitoring and analysis models. Early research and judgment on employment risks are to be improved. Special surveys on AI's employment impact are to track application penetration, job creation and replacement, and changing skill demands. AI employment research centers are to be established using existing university and research institute resources, and national social science fund projects are to support forward-looking research on employment and income distribution. AI employment risks are to be included in the mechanism for preventing and resolving large-scale unemployment risks, with contingency plans and joint responses to labor relations risks.

What It Means for Foreign Founders

For foreign founders, the opinion suggests several practical takeaways. AI-related activities, from core industries to data annotation, terminal manufacturing and AI-enabled services, are framed as priority areas with support mechanisms. SMEs may benefit from digital transformation services and financing channels for stabilizing and expanding employment. Companies deploying AI in labor-intensive settings should expect scrutiny of employment impacts and may face employment risk assessments in certain market access projects. Firms should also prepare for worker transition obligations, including advance notice and reassignment support, and for compliance with rules on algorithmic management in hiring and human resources. Building ties with universities and vocational schools for talent and training could align with the policy direction.

This summary is based on information published by the relevant Chinese government website and is general information, not legal or tax advice.